It was Halloween, which meant that Francine was being more over-enthusiastic than normal. Nick had agreed months earlier to a group costume, because that was how far in advance his sister planned for the holiday. He had done it begrudgingly, outwardly, but inwardly he had been kind of happy about it. It was possibly the last time that the twins would be able to do the paired Halloween costumes that they had done since time immemorable - this time next year, they might be on opposite sides of the country. Admittedly, Apparition was something that could maybe solve that problem, but who knew. Next year was a giant unknown, and that was a little scary. No Frankie, no Francine - it was weird to think about.

Anyway, so he’d ended up dressing up as Link. He didn’t mind Legend of Zelda but Francine was definitely way more into it than he was. It was better than the other option she’d given him, though, which was Star Wars. Nick didn’t mind the more recent films, but the original trilogy drove him crazy because Luke was kind of a loser. All he did was mope around and let Leia and Han save the day. Which would have been fine, if he hadn’t been weirdly cast as the main character. In Nick’s opinion, the whole series would have been much better if they just admitted that Leia was the best from the beginning.

Regardless, he wasn’t about to dress up as Luke-the-whiny so he was Link and Francine was Zelda.

And Lucien was Ganon.

It was a situation that Nick wasn’t super thrilled with. Dressing up for Halloween was a twin thing, not a twin-and-irritating-boyfriend thing. But at least he was dressed up as Ganon (although he had snidely suggested that Lucien be assigned Naavi). Since Lucien and Francine had met up at Marissa’s back to school bash, Lucien had been pointedly dodging Nick. Since the two boys were roommates, it was actually a pretty impressive feat; Nick had managed to be in the same room as Lucien and conscious exactly twice in the last six weeks. Of course, the Beater understood why his roommate was dodging him. Nick had complained to Lucien more than once about Francine’s escapades with boys in the past six years. It wasn’t that Nick minded Francine doing things with other people, it was that he minded other people doing things with Francine.

All-in-all, Nick was a pretty chill brother. He wasn’t about to go around threatening whomever Francine was with at any given time, but that didn’t mean he had to like then. And it wasn’t like he was best friends with Lucien to begin with. Nick didn’t mind his roommate, they just weren’t as close as some roommate pairs in the school. Rose Farnon and Marissa Kendrick, for example, were as inseparable as he and Frankie were.

Speaking of, where was Frankie?

Nick looked around the party. It was crowded; since it was of Marissa’s legit parties, it was open to all years and staff. There was more food and drinks and stuff. Where was Frankie? Or Armaan, Nick mentally added. After the last party he and Armaan had started a kind of casual thing that he’d mostly avoided mentioning to Frankie for some reason, although he’d kept Francine updated. Her response, of course, had been to tell him to do what made him happy while at the same time reminding him of his supposedly undying love for his best friend. Because that was what Francine did. Speaking of, where was she? If Nick couldn’t spot Armaan or Frankie, he might as well hang out with his twin, especially since they were wearing matching costumes.

Oh, there was Lucien. Readjusting the shield he wore on his back and shifting the foam sword from one hand to the other, Nick approached his now-green roommate. He could tell that the paint was already sweating off him.

“Hey Lucien, have you seen Francine?” he asked. “Also,” Nick added, eyeing the paint. “Are you using body paint or like...paint?” Years of doing costumes with Francine had taught Nick more than the average bear about costuming.

Halloween wasn’t his favourite holiday, but it wasn’t the worst, either. As the middle sibling, he’d never had the opportunity to come up with his own costume idea prior to attending RMI; for every... more

Oh, shit, again. From the corner of his eye, he could see Nick coming over. This had the potential to be the first real interaction they’d had in, well, a while, and he wholly expected the worst to... more

Lucien couldn’t tell whether his roommate’s remark about paint toxicity was out of genuine concern, in large part because Nick looked like he was on the verge of laughter. His annoyance at this was... more

All right, Lucien was touchy tonight apparently. Nick fought the urge to roll his eyes as Lucien disregarded the option of bleach. It wasn’t exactly what Nick would suggest as a primary go-to, but... more

Lucien supposed he wasn’t too surprised to hear that Francine had been a Halloween enthusiast since early childhood. It fit perfectly with her persona. Didn’t fit his at all, as he well knew, but... more

Of course, Nick had played the Legend of Zelda games as a kid. He wasn’t like Francine, who had actually brought her DS with her to school in order to be able to play one of them, but he had played.... more

He sat on top of the rock wall, blending into his surroundings. All that could be seen were his signature yellow eyes, and that was only if the ickle children were looking really, really hard. Oh,... more

“You think so? Can’t wait to be enlightened,” Lucien responded, his sarcasm deadpan like usual. It was therefore likely only semi-recognizeable as being sarcastic, which was again something quite... more